


Nightmare

by TheWitchOfTheRock



Series: Lab Partners [5]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Entrapdak, F/M, Nightmares, Sleeping Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-28 21:01:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20432384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWitchOfTheRock/pseuds/TheWitchOfTheRock
Summary: Imp comes to Hordak  in the middle of  the night, with a recording of Entrapta in distress.





	Nightmare

It was the middle of the night in the Fright Zone. Entrapta had gone to her personal quarters a few hours ago, leaving Hordak to his own devices in his sanctum. 

Today was a day for biotech. He had moved from the idea of cloning himself a new body, and onto either integrating this technology more seamlessly into his body, or finding a way to regrow and repair his body. 

It wasn’t necessarily going well, but he was still in the research phase of his work which involved a lot of reading. His mind was split in two, one part taking in and absorbing the new data- the other side exploding with ideas that he knew would prove impossible as he continued his reading.

He found himself quite entranced - he normally did when he was learning something he found interesting, when Imp scrambled out of the vents, and sat himself on the arm of Hordak's chair, looking distressed.

Hordak pulled himself from the article he was reading, and put his hand on Imps neck in an attempt to calm him. 

“What is it.” He asked softly. 

Imp opened his mouth, and played a recording. At first he didn’t know what he was listening to. It was muffled, abd inarticulate. He couldn’t make out any words. He strained his ears, listening carefully. 

Crying. Soft, pained feminine sobs. His chest tightened for a moment.

“Is that… Entrapta?”

Imp stopped the recording and screeched at him.

“Where.”

———-

Hordak followed imp down the twisting hallways. He ran for the most part, slowing to a walk when he heard someone walking by on patrol. They didn’t question what he was doing roaming the halls at night, they just gave a salute and let him go on. 

They knew better than to stop him. 

The hallways became vaguely familiar as he approached a nondescript sliding door in the wall. This was Entrapta’s quarters, he was pretty sure. He’d normally be more sure, but last time he was here he had been just coming down from the issue with the corrupted First One’s tech, and his head hadn’t been quite right. 

Imp tugged on Hordak’s robes, and pointed to the door. He sighed, looking for a call button along the door, but saw none. There was a pin pad next to the door though - he figured that it had been an old storage closet before Entrapta took it over. This struck him as unacceptable. He was going to have her move. He didn’t know where yet, but somewhere closer to the sanctum. Maybe then she wouldn't feel she had to sneak through the vents all the time. 

He plugged the master code into the pin-pad, and was entirely and completely confused when it didn’t open. He tried it again, thinking at first that maybe he had just put the number in wrong, when it came to him that of course Entrapta had changed the code. 

He frowned and looked down at Imp. “How did you get in.” He asked. Imp pointed at a ventilation shaft in the ceiling. He picked him up, and held him to the vent. Imp scrambled in and turned to look at Hordak. 

“Go in, and check on her.” He said, “If she still… needs assistance, then open the door from the inside.” 

There was silence as his sneaky companion made his way through the vents. He watched, hoping that he would come right back, poking his head out and shrugging. He didn’t necessarily want to go into Entrapta’ s quarters without her express permission, but he didn’t want to leave her alone. 

A moment later, the door slid open. Imp walked out, brushing his hands together and looking proud. Once he was out, he held out his arms, as though guiding Hordak into the room. He sneered as he swept past him. 

The door closed behind him, and the light from the hallway cut out. He could hear Entrapta nearby, still crying softly. 

“Entrapta.” He said, his voice low and calm as his eyes adjusted to the dim light of a small lamp that was still on next to the massive pillow Entrapta slept in, giving off a dull purple light. He carefully made his way across the piles of old tools and bits of tech towards her. At first he wondered if she didn’t hear him over her gentle sobbing, but he didn’t think that was the case. 

As he approached, he saw that she was still asleep, her face covered in fresh tears. He froze for a moment, hesitant on what to do next, then he gently shook her shoulder, “Entrapta.” He whispered more urgently. Still no response. For a moment, he worried something was wrong. His ears flexed, and he felt his stomach clench as he shook her more firmly, and rose his voice almost to a shout.

“Entrapta!” 

That woke her. She rose up quickly, and he felt her hair around him. It happened so fast he scarcely had time to register it- She had knocked his feet from under him with one strand, dropping him against the ‘bed’. As he fell, another grabbed his wrists, and another went for his throat and squeezed.

He was a little impressed with her reaction if he were to be honest. 

“It’s me.” He managed to croak out. If he had to breathe like a normal Etherian, he’d probably be in trouble. He got to his feet slowly so as not to startle her. She was breathing heavily, tears still falling from her eyes. 

Slowly, she loosened her hair. “Hordak.” she said softly, “Why are you-” A sob interrupted her. 

“What’s wrong.” It wasn’t a question, it was a demand. If someone had hurt her- 

He wasn’t prepared for her leaning into him, and just sobbing into his armor. He slowly put his arms over her shoulders, and let he stay there. He wasn’t sure what was wrong, but he was pretty sure this was the right reaction. She normally did this when he was frustrated with his experiments, or his armor, but she did it with her hair. He hoped this was right. 

It must have been, because after a few moments, the sobbing slowly stopped, her breathing slowed, and she started sniffling and wiping her face with her still-gloved hands. 

“What happened.” He asked, a little more gently this time. She shook her head, allowing some of her slightly tangled hair to cover her face as she backed away from him, “It.. I’m sorry.” 

His arms were still around her. He wouldn’t hold her in place, she wouldn’t like that. He lifted one hand and brushed one of her pigtails out of the way, “What happened?”

She sniffled, “It’s stupid.” She said softly, “I had a nightmare, that’s all.” 

Entrapta had told her about her dreams before, and he’d come to realize that yes, though he dreamed, her dreams were a lot more vivid than his, like it was really happening. He didn’t know if that was because she slept longer, or if their brains were just different. 

“What did you dream,” He asked, his concern causing his voice to come out in soft hisses, “That upset you so much.” 

She turned aside, and let her hair cover her face again. Entrapta was dodging. She was hiding. Entrapta, who had always before been blunt, and open, and honest, and dragged the truth from him when he’d rather stay silent was dodging. 

He hesitated, and lifted his hand to her face. He did it slowly, so she could see, and when she didn’t move away he cupped her cheek and turned her face to look at him. 

“I came in, and you were sobbing in your sleep. You woke up and you cried into me. You-” He considered his words, “You’re my lab partner.” He finally said, his ears twitching in the darkness, “You’re.. My friend. Yes?” Entrapta nodded once, “Then I won’t stop until you tell me.” He said back to her, then in a pale imitation of her, he said in a softer voice, “So tell me everything, right now.” 

She flicked her eyes down, “It’s bad.” She said. Then looked back up at him. “I dreamed about my parents.” 

She had never mentioned her parents before, and he’d not asked. 

“Are they.. Around?”

“No.” She said, shifting a little closer to him. In the dim light he could see tears welling in her eyes again, catching the lamplight, “They died when I was little.” 

Condolences were in order, he knew. “I’m sorry-” 

“ She leaned into his chest again, and he could feel her shaking, “I blamed myself when I was younger.” She said softly. “We used to work in a lab together. They were interested in robotics too. My mother, actually, had a robotic arm. That’s how she met my dad - he was a scientist who helped her make a new one. They worked together a lot.” she sniffled and fell silent. Hordak moved his arms so they were properly over her shoulders again. She didn’t seem to mind that. 

“ I was just a kid. Nine.I was making my own little robot. Not anything special. I was just making something that would play a tune and dance as it did. Something silly, and I burned myself with a soldering gun. My mom left what she was doing to help me. Whatever she was working on reacted, and fizzed over on the table, then the table fell, and all these chemicals just..” She shuddered, and her hair wrapped around her. “Something exploded. She held me down, and protected me from the blast. “

“You dreamed that happened again?”

She shook her head and shuddered. “No.” She sobbed, “No. When I woke up.. When I woke up I was still under the rubble.” She was crying harder now. “She was on top of me. She was dead, and she was on top of me!” She dissolved into tears against Hordak. “ H-Her arms were all over me, and bleeding,”

He tightened his grip around her. He was used to death, used to corpses, but even he wouldn’t be pleased to wake up under a corpse. For an Etherian child to wake up to the corpse of her mother over her.

He’d seen horrors, but he didn’t know if he could compare. He had been raised to deal with horrors, and he’d never really been a child.

Entrapta started breathing heavily, and calmed down after a few moments, “I dream sometimes, that I’m still under her.” She whimpered, “I can feel her on top of me. I can feel her blood, I can see her eyes.” Another sob. 

Hordak didn’t know what he could say, so he held her tight instead. That seemed to calm her. Slowly her hair wrapped around them both like a blanket. 

“I’m sorry.” She whispered, “I didn’t think you’d hear me.” 

“I didn’t.” He said, “Imp did. He let me know something was wrong.” 

A sniffle, followed by a dull laugh, “You were spying on me?”

“Imp was.” He corrected, indignant, “He spies on everyone. I think he was worried about you.” 

She nodded, calmer now. 

“I’m sorry about your parents.” He said. “And… and that you went through that.” He wondered if that was the right thing to say. He was pretty sure it was. 

Entrapta nodded, but didn’t say anything. 

“... Is… Is there anything you want me to do?”

She was silent for a few long moments, then slowly wrapped her arms around him. “Can you stay here?”

“I can.”

“You’re not too busy?” 

“For you, no.” He felt his ears heat up slightly as he took in how corny that was, and how stupid he must have sounded. But Entrapta didn’t notice that. Instead, she leaned down, lowering herself, and Hordak into her bed, and pulling a blanket up over them. She snuggled into him. 

“Tomorrow.” He whispered as she started sleeping, “You’re moving your quarters closer to the sanctum.”

“Hrmm..?”  
“There’s no need for you to be so far away.” he Insisted. He wasn’t sure where he’d put her - as far as he knew there weren't many places that would be suitable for her near the sanctum; he had designed that area himself when he had it all built. It was his sanctum, and then his quarters. 

But he’d figure something out. For now, he was content to just lay there and hold her, listen to her breath slow and soften as she fell asleep.

\--------------------

The next morning , he was arranging for Entrapta’s things to me moved as discreetly as possible to his own quarters. He didn’t need them, not really, he hardly slept. 

“It’ll be more efficient if she’s closer to the sanctum” he explained to Imp as Entrapta was making another run to bring more stuff over, “And she can keep her tools in the sanctum, and not risk tripping over them in the middle of the night.”

Imp rolled his eyes. Opened his mouth, and let a recording play, “‘you’re not too busy?’, ‘For you, no.” 

He’d have to have a talk to Imp about appropriate people to spy on.


End file.
